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Grex Scifi Item 116: Suggestions for additional reading for Harry Potter fan - about 100 lines.
Entered by tpryan on Thu Dec 9 23:33:08 UTC 1999:

Do you know someone turned onto to reading via the Harry Potter books?
Here are some others to try:
Suggestions for 
Harry Potter fans:
 
Intermediate Readers (8-12 yrs)
 
The Book of Three 
    by Lloyd Alexander
House With a Clock In Its Walls 
    by John Bellairs
Into the Land of Unicorns 
    by Bruce Colville
The Boggart 
    by Susan Cooper
The Boggart and The Monster 
    by Susan Cooper
So You Want To Be A Wizard 
    by Diane Duane
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen 
    by Alan Garner
Passager 
    by Jane Yolen
Wizards's Hall 
    by Jane Yolen
The Lost Years of Merlin 
    by T.A. Barron
The Secret of Platform 13 
    by Eva Ibbotson
Charmed Life 
    by Diana Wynne Jones
Dragon of the Lost Sea 
    by Laurence Yep
 
Young Adult Fiction (12 - 15 yrs)
 
The Night of Wishes 
    by Michael Ende
A Wizard of Earthsea 
    by Ursula LeGuin
The Hero and the Crown 
    by Robin McKinley
Sabriel 
    by Garth Nix
Sandry's Book 
    by Tamora Pierce
The Hobbit 
    by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Sword in the Stone 
    by T.H. White
Dealing with Dragons 
    by Patricia Wrede
 
Suggestions for 
Harry Potter fans:
 
Intermediate Readers (8-12 yrs)
 
The Book of Three 
    by Lloyd Alexander
House With a Clock In Its Walls 
    by John Bellairs
Into the Land of Unicorns 
    by Bruce Colville
The Boggart 
    by Susan Cooper
The Boggart and The Monster 
    by Susan Cooper
So You Want To Be A Wizard 
    by Diane Duane
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen 
    by Alan Garner
Passager 
    by Jane Yolen
Wizards's Hall 
    by Jane Yolen
The Lost Years of Merlin 
    by T.A. Barron
The Secret of Platform 13 
    by Eva Ibbotson
Charmed Life 
    by Diana Wynne Jones
Dragon of the Lost Sea 
    by Laurence Yep
 
Young Adult Fiction (12 - 15 yrs)
 
The Night of Wishes 
    by Michael Ende
A Wizard of Earthsea 
    by Ursula LeGuin
The Hero and the Crown 
    by Robin McKinley
Sabriel 
    by Garth Nix
Sandry's Book 
    by Tamora Pierce
The Hobbit 
    by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Sword in the Stone 
    by T.H. White
Dealing with Dragons 
    by Patricia Wrede

10 responses total.

#1 of 10 by mcnally on Fri Dec 10 02:01:17 1999:

  Also by Susan Cooper, and recommended (at least by me) are her
  "the Dark is Rising" series, which consists of:

     Under Sea, Under Stone
     The Dark is Rising
     Greenwitch
     The Grey King
     Silver on the Tree

  Oddly, the first and third books always seemed to me to be considerably
  more juvenile than the rest of the series -- I'd place them in the younger
  readers category and put the others more in the 10- to 12-year-old range.

#2 of 10 by dbratman on Wed Dec 15 22:08:22 1999:

Unless they're already omniverous fantasy readers, I suspect most Harry 
Potter fans wouldn't want something else, but just more Harry Potter 
(and to re-read the ones they already have).

But that said, I definitely want to second one name on the list: of all 
previous authors, the one who has written books most like Rowling's is 
Diana Wynne Jones, and if I wanted to buy some other novels for a Harry 
fan, I'd get a set of DWJ's Christopher Chant books.

Susan Cooper, otoh, I think would strike a Harry fan as tedious and 
anemic.

#3 of 10 by mcnally on Wed Dec 15 22:24:46 1999:

  Could be.  Kids are pretty flexible, though, and not as set in
  their ways as adults are..

#4 of 10 by jep on Thu Dec 16 02:45:38 1999:

I'm reading the 1st Harry Potter book to my 8 year old right now.  It 
seems like a pretty good book.  I'm thinking he might well enjoy T. H. 
White's "The Sword and the Stone" next if we get through the 3 Harry 
Potter books.

#5 of 10 by eeyore on Thu Dec 23 11:49:06 1999:

Also excellent reading for any age: Anything by Brian Jacques, especially
Mossflower.  No, it's really not like the Potter books, but it does appeal
to the same bent. :)

#6 of 10 by gelinas on Fri Dec 24 04:15:07 1999:

But for me, Jacques got old fast.  My ten-year old son went a lot further
down that path than I could.

#7 of 10 by eeyore on Fri Dec 24 08:32:59 1999:

The first couple were wonderful.  Mossflower should be required reading for
the younger set.  And yes, they do get a bit tedious after awhile, but they
still are wonderful. :)

#8 of 10 by dbratman on Mon Jan 3 19:04:06 2000:

mcnally #3: As a child I was extremely rigid and set in my ways, much 
more so than I am now (now I'm not rigid, just tired) and I find most 
children are that way.  Think of how a kid will demand to hear the SAME 
bedtime story told in the EXACT SAME way.  Substitutes don't cut it.

jep #4: Good idea.  "The Sword in the Stone" has a lot in common with 
Harry Potter, particularly the use of humor and the type of moralizing.

#9 of 10 by mcnally on Mon Jan 3 21:58:24 2000:

  In my (limited) experience, kids are absolutely committed to certain
  tastes and habits (almost to the point of fixation) but significantly
  more welcoming towards new ideas and experiences in other areas.

  When you try and run directly contrary to one of a child's strongly-held
  tastes you're going to get a tantrum (at best) and risk permanently 
  prejudicing the child against whatever you're pushing.  But if you sneak
  something new in while they're not actively on guard against it they're
  generally pretty cool about it.

#10 of 10 by dbratman on Wed Jan 19 23:50:17 2000:

"actively on guard against it" meaning "any situation where they're used 
to one thing".  If the situation is rare and they don't do it often (but 
it isn't something Significant, like a birthday party), or they're used 
to a lot of different things, then maybe you can sneak in something new.

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